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Larry Eyler
|death place = Pontiac, Illinois |job = Various |pathology = Serial Killer Serial Rapist Hebephile Ephebophile |signature = Taking pictures of victims' bodies |mo = Varied |type = Organized lust |victims = 25 killed 2 attempted |status = Deceased |time = 1978-August 21, 1984|charges = 1 count of murder|sentence = Death|capture = October 1983 }} Larry Eyler, a.k.a. "The Highway Killer" or "The Interstate Killer", was an American hebephilic, ephebopholic serial killer and serial rapist Background Eyler was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, as the youngest of four children. His parents divorced while he was still young, which resulted in him having many stepfathers, who all teased and abused him. In his senior year, Eyler dropped out of high school and earned his GED years later. Unbeknownst to his friends and family, he struggled coping with homosexual tendencies, even going as far as to hate himself for being gay. Sporadic enrollment in college between 1974 and 1978 left Eyler without a degree, and he moved to Terre Haute that same year. There, Eyler stabbed a young man named Craig Long for no apparent reason. Long survived, and Eyler was subsequently arrested and pleaded guilty, being fined $43. Murders, Arrest. and Death Four years after stabbing Long, Eyler stabbed another man named Jay Reynolds, killing him. Nine months later, Eyler strangled a youth named Delvoyd Baker and dumped his body on the roadside north of Indianapolis. Days later, Eyler stabbed Steven Crockett several times. A month later, the body of Robert Foley was discovered, having been dumped outside of Joliet, Illinois. That same month, Eyler beat and attempted to kill Craig Townsend, but Townsend escaped before Eyler could finish the job. Townsend was subsequently hospitalized but fled from the hospital before police could investigate his case. Later on, the body of John Johnson was found in a field outside Belshaw, Indiana. Three days later, Eyler dumped the body of a double header named John Roach near Belleville. Another body was found shortly after. After murdering more victims, Eyler moved to Indianapolis in the summer of 1983 and became a member of a local gay community. Shortly after, people started to become suspicious of his behavior. Meanwhile, a gay newspaper called The Works set up a hotline and published a profile of the then-unidentified Eyler. At that point, Eyler had already murdered two other victims. On September, 30, a police officer saw Eyler's truck parked on the side of Interstate 65 and two men moving towards the woods, one of them being bound. When the officer approached them, the captive man accused Eyler of making homosexual advances towards him. The officer investigated Eyler's truck, where he found surgical tape, nylon clothesline, and a bloodstained hunting knife, but Eyler wasn't arrested and the captive man was released. Days later, Eyler moved in with his secret lover, John Dobrovolskis, and his wife and children. Six more bodies were found days later. Eyler was considered the prime suspect in the murders, which shocked his family and resulted in his arrest. Later, police managed to contact Eyler's attempted victim, Craig Townsend, who identified him as his attacker. Even more bodies are found, one of them being Daniel Bridges, who was dismembered and had parts of his body left inside trash bags, which were found by the janitor working where Eyler lived. Eyler was arrested again and put on trial, subsequently being found guilty of Bridges' murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Eyler eventually died from complications caused by AIDS on March 6, 1994. Two after his death, Eyler's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, held a news conference to announce that Eyler signed a written confession in which he claimed he killed 21 people, which could not be released until his death. Modus Operandi Eyler killed across the American Midwest, targeting young male prostitutes, gays, and hitchhikers, choosing them at random while driving his Ford pickup truck. He would drug and bound them; and then stab, strangle, or hack them to death. Afterwards, he would dump their mutilated bodies in rural areas and off of highways, hence his nickname. He would also take photographs of his victims as a way to recall the murders. Known Victims *Unspecified date in 1978: Craig Long, 19 *1982: **March 22: Jay Reynolds, 31 **October 3: Delvoyd Baker, 14 **October 23: Steven Crockett, 19 **November 4: Craig Townsend, 21 **November 6 : Robert Foley **December 25 : John Johnson, 25 **December 28 : ***John Roach, 21 ***Steven Agan, 23 *1983: **March 4 : Edgar Underkofler, 27 **April 8 : Gustavo Herrera, 28 **April 15 : Ervin Dwayne Gibson, 16 **May 9 : ***Jimmy T. Roberts, 18 ***Daniel Scott Mcneive, 21 **July 7 : An unidentified man **August 8 : Ralph Calise, 28 **September 30 : Derrick Hansen, 18 **October 15 : An unidentified man **October 19 : ***Michael Bouer, 22 ***John Barlett, 19 ***Two unnamed men **December 5 : An unidentified man **December 7 : ***Richard Wayne ***An unidentified man *1984: **May 7: David M. Block, 22 **August 21 : Daniel "Danny" Bridges, 15 On Criminal Minds While Eyler has yet to be directly mentioned on the show, he appears to have been and inspiration for the following unsubs: *Season Three **Steven Fitzgerald ("In Heat") - Both were homosexual serial killers who targeted homosexual men whom they would pick up on highways, were physically abused by father figures (although it was only implied that Fitzgerald was physically abused), and subsequently became angry at themselves for their homosexual tendencies. *Season Twelve **Mark Tolson ("A Good Husband") - Both were homosexual killers whose parents divorced when they were children, had troubled childhoods involving their paternal figures, targeted homosexual men, incapacitated their victims with drugs, and had M.O.s that involved stabbing and dismemberment. Sources *Wikipedia's article about Eyler *Murderpedia's article about Eyler *Radford University's summary on Eyler's life *Prezi presentation about Eyler by Bilal A. Category:Real World Criminals Category:Real People Category:Real Life Killers Category:Real Serial Killers Category:Real Life Rapists Category:Real Hebephiles Category:Real Ephebophiles Category:Real Life Child Killers Category:Incarcerated Real World Criminals Category:Deceased Real World Criminals Category:Unreferenced Criminals Category:Real Mutilators